FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Lindsey Sampson, Lee County Solid Waste Division
                Rick Diaz, Lee County Utilities Division
                (941) 479-8181

FORT MYERS, Fla. (June 5, 2001) – The Board of Lee County Commissioners unanimously gave the go-ahead today to two major county projects with combined costs of $95 million.

Commissioners agreed to begin the permitting and preliminary design process for adding a third, 600 ton-per-day, boiler unit to the county’s Waste-to-Energy Facility – an expansion that will increase the plant’s capacity by 50 percent from 1,200 tons per day to 1,800 tons per day. The professional services contract to begin the process is with Malcolm Pirnie for $1.5 million.

They also approved a final design contract for the proposed North Lee County Water Treatment Plant – a proposed five-million-gallon-per-day reverse osmosis treatment facility that will serve North Fort Myers and East Lee County. The contract is with Montgomery Watson Americas for $1.2 million.

The Waste-to-Energy Facility expansion is preliminarily estimated to cost $70 million and is needed because the facility is operating at maximum capacity. Bonds would be issued to finance the project and consultants studies indicate there should be no additional impact to rate payers other than a previously projected two percent annual increase in disposal fees. This is possible primarily due to electricity revenues generated by the plant, strong reserves, the county’s plan to refinance the initial debt to build the facility, and incremental operating costs are lower than the initial costs.

Lee County’s Waste-to-Energy Facility was completed in August 1994 and disposes of the county’s garbage by burning it and generating electricity from a steam driven turbine. The facility burns 395,000 tons of garbage a year and generates up to 34 megawatts of electricity – or enough to power about 30,000 homes. Since the Waste-to-Energy Plant began operating, residential garbage rates in Lee County have declined from $216 to $188 a year. The facility has consistently exceeded the strict requirements for controlling emissions. It also has won a number of state and national awards for its environmental and operational achievements.

The $25-million North Lee County Water Treatment Plant off Durrance Road in North Fort Myers will draw brackish water from the Lower Hawthorne Aquifer and treat it through a reverse osmosis process. The plant could be expanded to a total capacity of 10 million gallons per day in the future.

The proposed plant will reduce the county’s reliance on drawing water from the Caloosahatchee River, which, due to recent saltwater intrusion, has increased levels of sodium and chloride in water processed at the county’s Olga Water Treatment Plant.

Both projects are expected to come on line sometime in 2003.